Stock Photos are Making a Comeback: Here's How to Use Them as a Creator

“OMG, where has this been all my life?”

“This is genius!”

“I never thought I’d be scrolling through stock photos for fun”

Wait– did we read that right? You’re scrolling through stock photos for fun? You might not have thought it would be possible, but stock photos might be making a comeback. But just any stock photos– specifically, Dupe

At this point, we’re all familiar with the cringe stock photos forced upon us by our legal and compliance besties. You know the ones where everyone’s gathered around a computer pointing and smiling as if that PowerPoint presentation on the screen says they just won the lottery. Insert Dupe– a new stock photo and video website shaking things up. Founded by a graphic designer and social media manager, Cora and Payton were tired of the traditional stock imagery that was available. They wanted something different. Something better. Something authentic.

When Cora and Payton set out to create a new approach to stock content, they wanted to prioritize a UGC style above the traditional, overly-staged storytelling of conventional stock photos. Favoring smartphone photography over professional shots, Dupe offers a variety of content and aesthetics that feel more authentic to what’s being published on social media today. The end product is a website that doesn’t feel like a “stock photo website”. Instead, Dupe is an exciting new creative place where you can showcase your latest cute pics. A place where creatives can come to see what style of photos their peers are enjoying, and keep up with the latest trending aesthetics. A place where social media marketing teams can get REAL photos from REAL people.

Think of Dupe as stock photos that look like your latest Pinterest board – these photos aren’t going to give you the ick, but they’re something you actually want to use on social media. This was the initial inspiration for Dupe – Cora and Payton were tired of wanting to use photos from Pinterest, but knew they legally weren’t allowed (the majority of the content found on Pinterest actually belongs to someone else and unless you get written permission from the original creator of the image, those aren’t your photos to use. Sorry! Don't shoot the messenger).

So, to help supplement content creation, you can use royalty-free content. Stock photography and video can not only be useful in a variety of ways but also a major time saver when it comes to consistently posting on social media to keep your audience engaged.

For social media managers and content creators, you might find stock content useful for…

• The backgrounds of your Instagram stories
• Reels cover photos
• Carousel posts
• Memes
• Video b-roll
• Reels/ TikTok background 
• Blog post imagery
• Moodboards
• Mockups
• Backgrounds for your latest design

The list goes on and on. Anywhere you would typically use a non-branded photo or video can be supplemented with aesthetic content for when you are in a pinch (or maybe you just reallllllyyyyy don’t want to shoot content that day– don’t worry, your secret is safe with us).

And to help out creators even more, we are launching new integrations to make it as easy as possible to consume these aesthetic images and videos. Enter the Planoly x Dupe partnership. With the Planoly x Dupe integration, you can now schedule stock photos and videos without ever having to leave Planoly. To access, click on “Stock Media” on the left side of your Planoly web dashboard. This will help our users seamlessly integrate Dupe’s amazing content with the Planoly platform to schedule and post their social media content.